Page 16 - Morris Dees News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

While there appeared to be progress, we had the reminders of racialized violence, of murder, of lynching, and we see it most clearly with the murder of michael donald. >> my uncle thomas figures and my father, michael figures, they worked incredibly, incredibly hard to ensure that justice was served in the criminal case. they both knew that that was not going to be enough. the klan was just as much of a threat as it was before the criminal case. and that's when my father teamed up with the morris dees. >> after law school in 1960, when i got to practice in law, there were a lot of violent acts...

>> so they started calling late into the night, in the wee hours of the morning, to say, you know, we're going to come and get you. they just kept calling, kept calling, kept calling. >> they got fired up because we sued them. >> in 1983, the klan burned our building in montgomery, alabama. >> not only had our office been firebombed in the night by a klan group, morris lived at that time on a farm. >> they came to my house trying to track me down, and they found that i had security guards out there. >> they discovered on his property camouflaged klan people with high-powered assault rifles try...

Color, all the way up to the assassination of major targets that they would like addressed. >> the fbi showed me a copy. i was on top of that list. one of the guys that they wanted to kill was allen berg, denver radio talk show host, because he had a radio program, he's jewish, and he was condemning the neo-nazis. and they mowed him down, killed him, shot him. that got our attention in a big way, i can assure you. >> morris dees told my mom, i have gotten death threats. are you prepared for this? she said, i don't care. i just want the world to know what has happened to my son. >> beulah mae d...

Suspected were klan members, but very few of them were actually apprehended. i thought to myself, if i ever get an opportunity to get on the other side of the fighting those that did it, i'd do it in a minute. i decided i'd go down to mobile and watch michael donald's criminal trial. i wanted to know everything i could. >> so following the criminal trial, that's when my father, michael figures, and morris dees teamed up to bring a $10 million civil suit against the klan. >> morris dees came and he talked to my mother. he says, i'm going to get everything that you want for you, mrs. donald, bec...

>> this many years later, morris dees has left the southern poverty law center and so many other organizations have a great many new challenges to face.♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> very strongly, she went through criminal case. she went through civil case. she went through a whole lot with this. but it never changed her character. she was still a very, very nice lady, that everybody loved. >> she exemplified that love that she gave her children herself personally with her family and she brought that love to the children that she served.